You got a family?

Yes, and I will see them when I leave here. And you, Stark.

...nothing

The man who has everything...and nothing

Tony Stark still had nightmares about Afghanistan. The months spent over hot welding irons, the fear, the car battery keeping him alive. Who wouldn't leave that place with slight mental scarring? But as the years went on it wasn't the fear, or the escape, or even the humvee explosion that kept him up at night.

Instead Tony Stark's mind would reel endlessly with conversations with his only friend there, Yensin. Days spent working, nights spent in quiet conversation and dice games. Tony paced across the living area of the new Avengers tower. Light catching the many untouched bottles of expensive liquor behind a large bar, F.R.I.D.A.Y. lighting his way across long plank hardwood floors, the larger than life modern art that Tony didn't even know anything about. He had everything. And nothing.

No. Tony shook away the thought. That was before. This is now. He started a mental list, ignoring the glorious sunset across the NYC skyline from his towering windows. Pepper. The lovely, hardworking, ever a brick wall of consistency that she was. Tony had Pepper. Fear of messing everything up was pushed to the back of his mind. They had been through so much together.

He had the Avengers. Working together with Bruce in a lab was a ton of fun. Gone were the days of having to dumb things down. Unfortunately he was at a conference on the lingering effects of radiation.

He had Thor. What a beast of a man. The tower was never quiet with the large presence of his voice and personality. He was in Asgard.

Tony had Steve. The two had managed to come to terms with previous disagreements and though they were a long way from being friends he knew he could count on the man to lead him right during a mission. And a mission is what he was on now.

He had Clint and Natasha. The bickering back and forth reminded Tony of a pair of siblings. He glanced over at the couch where he remembered the two disagreeing over a movie, popcorn being tossed. But they had taken an extended time away to be with the Bartons.

Thoughts of his strange group of friends calmed the spiralling thoughts of emptiness that had overtaken him, for the moment. This always struck when he stopped working. His mind unoccupied was instead filled with dread.

He sat on his expansive expensive sofa on a Wednesday night, Pepper overnight in DC for a series of meetings and Avengers tower deadly silent. Calloused hands spun his phone like a nervous tick. Taking a deep breath he finally sent a text, not to Pepper.

Tony: Hey kid, how's it going?

He sighed at his lack of creativity. Couldn't even come up with an excuse to contact him.

But as more spikes of Yensin's conversations struck him, he realized he needed the distraction.

Don't waste it...don't waste your life.

But he didn't expect his phone to ring with an incoming call. It was a little tune Peter had programmed into his phone from some YouTube video of Spiderman's saves. Tony mumbled "...does whatever a spider can…" before he picked up.

"Hey, Pete. Didn't expect a call." his voice didn't betray anything of his depression. Tony heard the recognizable wind rushing and breathing sound that was a sure sign Peter was in his suit.

"Hi, Mr. Stark. Just patrolling. Couldn't really text." Peter said strained as he swung from his perch on one building to a few streets down. He kept his eyes peeled for any unusual activity.

"And how is Queens?" Tony asked, glad for something to discuss. He moved over to a display near the large windows overlooking the city pulling up all relevant information. He had a police scanner, Peter's vitals, his coordinates and path that night.

"Going great tonight." Tony saw his location slow and finally stop on a new building as he continued. "I usually leave Happy a message at the end of the night...unless you want to know now?" Peter sounded confused. Tony knew he left nightly messages because he listened to them. He searched for a good excuse but came up short after a beat or two. And by then he knew anything he came up with would sound fake. "Mr. Stark? Everything ok?"

"Yeah, kid." He answered quickly and cringed. "Just checking up on you." And damn, if his kid wasn't intuitive. He could practically hear the wheels turning in the teen's brain.

"Ya know, Mr. Stark I'm pretty much done. Is it...uhh...would it be ok if I stopped by?" Tony huffed in mock annoyance.

"I'm a little busy but I guess I could take a break." Peter sounded way too excited and gave him an ETA.

Peter had no problem swinging to the top of Avenger's tower to greet Tony and be let in like a stray. Tony made a show of looking busy and wiping grease off his hands while telling F.R.I.D.A.Y. to open one of the floor to ceiling windows.

Peter pulled off his mask when the window was closed again and sighed happily, sweaty hair pressed to his forehead. Tony grimaced and they stood in silence. Tony attempting to look interrupted and Peter grinning happily.

"Do you want to watch a movie or something, Pete." Tony asked, crossing his arms with the soiled towel still gripped in his hands.

"Yeah!" Peter gripped his mask tightly in excitement.

"Alright. Let me pick something out." Tony acted like it was a hassle but inside he was sighing contently. "You gotta take a shower first, kid." Tony took the Spiderman mask from his hands to check it over while Peter rushed off.

Ten minutes later, Peter and Tony were on the couch, popcorn bowl being passed between them. Back to the Future was cued up on the big screen and when Peter made a joke about how old the movie was Tony threw an arm over his shoulder and put him in a mild headlock. He left his arm there...just incase he had to do it again of course.